Scientists Develop Seawater Battery as an Alternative to Lithium

Building a battery isn’t terribly complicated: All you need is a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte that transmits ions between them. In a quest to develop a sustainable alternative to lithium, a team of scientists from South Korea is looking to the sea for some of those components, inhabitat reports.

In their study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, the nine researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) illustrate the science behind their seawater battery. Here the saltwater serves as a catholyte, which acts as both the electron-collecting cathode and the ion-transporting electrolyte simultaneously. Their invention (technically a sodium-air battery) depends on sodium-ion-rich saltwater to function, and with access to the ocean, it’s able to provide a constant charge.

The sustainable nature of seawater makes it the perfect contrast to lithium, which is used in the batteries that power our iPhones and electric cars. Lithium needs to be mined from the earth, which can have damaging effects on entire landscapes. Seawater, on the other hand, is something we have in excess.

The seawater battery still needs some fine-tuning before it’s ready to compete with lithium on the commercial market (UNIST’s battery produces an average of 2.7 volts compared to the average 3.6 to four volts discharged by a lithium-ion battery). But the potential for a day when ocean-powered batteries become mainstream is there.

Giant squid have been the object of fascination for millennia; they may have even provided the origin for the legendary Nordic sea monsters known as the Kraken. But no one had captured them in their natural environment on video until 2012, when marine biologist and bioluminescence expert Edith Widder snagged the first-ever images off Japan's Ogasawara Islands [PDF]. Widder figured out that previous dives—which tended to bring down a ton of gear and bright lights—were scaring all the creatures away. (Slate compares it to "the equivalent of coming into a darkened theater and shining a spotlight at the audience.")

In this clip from BBC Earth Unplugged, Widder explains how the innovative camera-and-lure combo she devised, known as the Eye-in-the-Sea, finally accomplished the job by using red lights (which most deep-sea creatures can't see) and an electronic jellyfish (called the e-jelly) with a flashy light show just right to lure in predators like Architeuthis dux. "I've tried a bunch of different things over the years to try to be able to talk to the animals," Widder says in the video, "and with the e-jelly, I feel like I'm finally making some progress."

Some of the world's most beautiful and historic lighthouses can be found in the American Northeast. Now, Pop Chart Lab is releasing an illustrated poster highlighting 150 of the historic beacons dotting the region's coastline.

The 24-inch-by-36-inch print, titled "Lighthouses of the Northeast," covers U.S. lighthouses from the northern tip of Maine to the Delaware Bay. Categorized by state, the chart features a diverse array of lighthouse designs, like the dual towers at Navesink Twin Lights in New Jersey and the distinctive red-and-white stripes of the West Quoddy Head Light in Maine.

Pop Chart Lab

Each illustration includes the lighthouse name and the year it was first lit, with the oldest lighthouses dating back to the 1700s. There's also a map in the upper-left corner showing the location of each landmark on the northeast coast.

Pop Chart Lab

The poster is now available to preorder for $37, with shipping set to start March 21. After memorizing every site on the chart, you can get to work exploring many of the other unique lighthouses the rest of the world has to offer.